Opera Books
The University of Chicago Press Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court
Book Synopsis
£37.05
University of Chicago Press Music Theater and Cultural Transfer Paris
Book SynopsisOpera and musical theater dominated French culture in the 1800s, and the influential stage music that emerged from this period helped make Paris, as Walter Benjamin put it, the 'capital of the nineteenth century'. This book explores the institutions that shaped Parisian music and extended its influence across Europe, the Americas, and Australia.
£69.98
The University of Chicago Press Puccini His International Art Emersion Emergent
Book SynopsisThis text provides an analysis of Puccini's operas, complete with 190 musical examples. It considers his musical and dramatic techniques, demonstrating how his manipulation of dense networks of themes, sophisticated harmonic techniques and orchestrations work to arouse the audience's emotions.Trade Review"A serious, long-overdue analysis of all of Puccini's great operas, filled with fascinating detail." - Reed Woodhouse, Boston Book Review "Girardi takes us through the operas, act by act, showing us how cleverly they're put together, and how thoroughly they are conversant not just with Wagner but also Berg, Schoenberg, Mahler, Stravinsky, Strauss, Debussy and others.... We also get a sampling of Puccini's correspondence, and the discreetest possible hint of the amorous embarrassments that he was forever getting involved in." - Jerry Fodor, London Review of Books "The most comprehensive Puccini study to date.... A major accomplishment, this book adds new dimensions to Puccini research and formal criticism." - Choice "It is high time for a biography worthy of Puccini, and that is what Michele Girardi has given us.... This is likely to remain definitive for a long time." - Richard Freed, Washington Post Book World
£94.05
The University of Chicago Press Puccini
Book SynopsisPuccini's operas are among the most popular and widely performed in the world, yet few books have examined his body of work from an analytical perspective. This volume remedies that lack in lively prose accessible to scholars and opera enthusiasts alike.Trade Review"A serious, long-overdue analysis of all of Puccini's great operas, filled with fascinating detail." - Reed Woodhouse, Boston Book Review "Girardi takes us through the operas, act by act, showing us how cleverly they're put together, and how thoroughly they are conversant not just with Wagner but also Berg, Schoenberg, Mahler, Stravinsky, Strauss, Debussy and others.... We also get a sampling of Puccini's correspondence, and the discreetest possible hint of the amorous embarrassments that he was forever getting involved in." - Jerry Fodor, London Review of Books "The most comprehensive Puccini study to date.... A major accomplishment, this book adds new dimensions to Puccini research and formal criticism." - Choice "It is high time for a biography worthy of Puccini, and that is what Michele Girardi has given us.... This is likely to remain definitive for a long time." - Richard Freed, Washington Post Book World
£52.25
The University of Chicago Press Opera Observed Views of a Florentine Impresario
Book SynopsisProvides a look behind the scenes into the world of early 18th-century Italian opera. Based on a store of recovered documents, mainly the personal papers of Luca Casimiro degli Albizzi, this social history illustrates the complexities of staging opera in the 1720s and '30s.
£94.05
The University of Chicago Press Backstage at the Revolution How the Royal Paris
Book SynopsisOn July 14, 1789, a crowd of angry French citizens en route to Bastille broke into the Paris Opera and helped themselves to any sturdy weapons they could find. This title tells the story of how this legendary opera house, despite being a lightning rod for charges of tyranny and waste, weathered the dramatic political upheaval in European history.Trade Review"Victoria Johnson's interdisciplinary study is a major contribution to our understanding of the history of the Paris Opera. Her deep exploration of the archives along with the clarity of her prose makes this an enlightening and entertaining book sure to find a diverse audience." - William Weber, author of Music and the Middle Class"
£57.06
The University of Chicago Press Unsettling Opera Staging Mozart Verdi Wager and
Book SynopsisExplores a variety of fields, considering questions of operatic textuality, dramaturgical practice, and performance theory. This book intends to initiate a dialogue between scholars of music, literature, and performance by addressing questions raised in each field in a manner that influences them all.Trade Review"Levin is one of the few scholars who functions effectively as both a literary critic in the university and a practical dramaturg in the opera house. His fascinating book demonstrates how critical readings of music and text can generate stagings that challenge and compel.... An indispensable guide." - Philip Gossett "Intelligent and lucidly written, Unsettling Opera opens up new and exciting vistas for thinking and writing about opera.... A book that is sure to become required reading for all those interested in the study - and performance - of opera." - German Studies Review"
£80.00
The University of Chicago Press Unsettling Opera Staging Mozart Verdi Wagner and
Book SynopsisExplores a variety of fields, considering questions of operatic textuality, dramaturgical practice, and performance theory. This book intends to initiate a dialogue between scholars of music, literature, and performance by addressing questions raised in each field in a manner that influences them all.Trade Review"Levin is one of the few scholars who functions effectively as both a literary critic in the university and a practical dramaturg in the opera house. His fascinating book demonstrates how critical readings of music and text can generate stagings that challenge and compel.... An indispensable guide." - Philip Gossett "Intelligent and lucidly written, Unsettling Opera opens up new and exciting vistas for thinking and writing about opera.... A book that is sure to become required reading for all those interested in the study - and performance - of opera." - German Studies Review"
£26.60
The University of Chicago Press The Trouble with Wagner
Book SynopsisThis analysis of Wagner’s vexed legacy is heightened by the author’s own experience as a dramaturg working on Wagner at the Berlin State Opera.
£30.40
The University of Chicago Press Puccini and The Girl History and Reception of
Book SynopsisSet in the American West during the California Gold Rush, La fanciulla del West marked a significant departure from Giacomo Puccini's previous and best- known works. Puccini and the Girl is the first book to explore this important but often misunderstood opera that became the earliest work by a major European composer to receive an American premiere when it opened at New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1910. Adapted from American playwright David Belasco's Broadway production, The Girl of the Golden West, Fanciulla was Puccini's most consciously modern work, and its Met debut received mixed reviews. Annie J. Randall and Rosalind Gray Davis base their account of its creation on previously unknown letters from Puccini to his main librettist, Carlo Zangarini. They mine musical materials, newspaper accounts, and rare photographs and illustrations to tell the full story of this controversial opera. Puccini and the Girl considers the production and reception of Puccini's cowboy opera in
£28.50
The University of Chicago Press Opera Sex and Other Vital Matters
Book SynopsisThis volume gathers both classic and previously unpublished essays from one of the leading stylists in contemporary American letters. Each essay celebrates art and the flesh, exploring the complexities of sexuality within the intellectual currents of the time.
£80.00
University of Chicago Press Opera Sex and Other Vital Matters
Book SynopsisThis volume gathers both classic and previously unpublished essays from one of the leading stylists in contemporary American letters. Each essay celebrates art and the flesh, exploring the complexities of sexuality within the intellectual currents of the time.
£32.08
The University of Chicago Press Singing Sappho
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Esse argues brilliantly that the relationship between written and oral traditions is far more complicated than has hitherto been acknowledged. Her approach to this subject matter is unique, tracing the figure of Sappho, an 'iconic improviser, ' through a series of operas and narratives. This book adds critical new perspective to the field of opera studies, illuminating how prima donnas helped shape and 'create' the musical and artistic environment in which they worked."-- "Hilary Poriss, Northeastern University" "Esse's new book makes a vital contribution to the continuing debates surrounding nineteenth-century Italian opera: it offers us important new ways of looking at the repertory and will surely take its place among the very best of recent operatic scholarship."-- "Roger Parker, King's College London" "With her perceptive readings, Esse illuminates the role of the improvvisatrice in nineteenth-century opera and the musical dimensions of improvisation. Revealing that nineteenth-century authorship was a fluid combination of creative, performative, collaborative, and contingent elements, she challenges an accepted narrative about the increasing dominance of the written work and the composer's authority. This fascinating study is deeply relevant to literary-cultural studies as well as to musicology."-- "Angela Esterhammer, University of Toronto"Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1 History’s Muse: The Spectacle of Poetic Improvisation Chapter 2 Corinna’s Crown: Improvisation and Authority in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims Chapter 3 Divinely Inspired: Incantation and the Making of Melody in Bellini’s Norma Chapter 4 Saffo’s Lyre: Improvising Operatic Authorship Chapter 5 A Sapphic Orpheus: Pauline Viardot and the Sexual Politics of Operatic Collaboration Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£40.00
The University of Chicago Press The Comedians of the King
Book SynopsisTrade Review“The Comedians of the King has the potential to be recognized as a central work on eighteenth-century musical culture. Doe approaches the subject through a mingling of social and political perspectives, keying into the major questions that have arisen about the last decades of the Old Regime in France. This book offers an intriguing discussion about how we might interpret the evolution of public life by looking at it in interdisciplinary perspective.” -- William Weber, California State University, Long Beach“The richness of the book’s vision is remarkable: its elegant syntheses offer a multiple picture of a key operatic genre from its modern formation to mature survival in the age of Wagner. Musical theater studies have needed something like this for a generation now, and Doe has written a persuasive and pleasurable account of the underlying tensions between a ‘national genre’ and the ebb and flow of national politics.” -- David Charlton, Royal Holloway, University of London“Skillfully combining detailed study of a wide range of works with institutional history and royal patronage, The Comedians of the King will transform our understanding of a key chapter in the history of lyric theater. A noteworthy feature of Doe’s work is her ability to weave the political dimension of her narrative with institutional and stylistic developments in opéra comique. Meticulously researched and persuasively argued, this major study is essential reading.” -- Mark Darlow, University of Cambridge“The Comedians of the King provides a fascinating and nuanced account of the process by which the opéra comique, with its humble origins in the Parisian fairgrounds, became the cosmopolitan emblem of l’Europe française and an important vehicle for courtly propaganda. Clearly and compellingly, Doe tells the story of the opéra comique alongside the story of a queen, Marie Antoinette, whose tastes and efforts lay behind its transformation. The result is a book that amplifies our understanding of not only the genre but also the social ambivalences and contradictions it reflected on the eve of the French Revolution.” -- Georgia Cowart, Case Western Reserve University"One of the most valuable contributions of The Comedians of the King is to have integrated a deep dive into the business side of opéra-comique and the administrative machinery of culture, which made it possible for the genre to flourish, with an exploration of the artistic innovations and successes that it accomplished during the final decades of the eighteenth century. As a result of this capacious approach, Julia Doe captures in exemplary fashion the full complexity and paradoxes of the genre’s expansion in late eighteenth-century France. . . . The Comedians of the King will have a lasting impact on the study of eighteenth-century French musical culture and on scholars who, following Doe, hope to ground their work in a robust interdisciplinary methodology." * Journal of the American Musicological Society *"Groundbreaking. . . . Doe’s book presents a new historical account that explains how an originally operatic genre of secondary rank thrived and then outlived a major phase of the Bourbon monarchy. The Comedians of the King presents a freshly conceived continuity of operatic genre through major historic changes." * Music and Letters *"The overarching aim of Doe’s revised story of the opéra-comique is to offer, in her words, a framework that can better ‘match the nuance of the theatrical world it confronts.' Specifically, she hopes ‘to temper the assumed polarities of opera comique and tragédie lyrique; to deepen our understanding of these genre’s political functions; and to better capture the musical complexity, diversity, and contradictions of a society in the process of radical change.' I think the book she has created does achieve these goals, and I know my understanding of the opéra-comique, its social world and its political entanglements is much richer for it." * Eighteenth Century Music *"Doe demonstrates how librettists and composers came to test the limits of this genre by turning it into an alternative to Tragédie lyrique for the elite, while explaining how opéra-comique was exploited in the construction of the cultivated public image of the monarchy. This contribution is all the more important as it offers a nuanced picture of the aesthetic and musical evolutions of a complex genre that contributed to the construction of a genre éminemment national in the nineteenth century." -- Maxime Margollé * H-France Review *Table of ContentsEditorial Principles Introduction Institutional History Dialogue Opera and the Cosmopolitan “Revolution” The Politics of Genre 1. Opéra Comique and the Legacy of Colbert Comic Theater and the Querelle des Bouffons Theater and the NationLa Nouvelle Troupe New Rivalries 2. Character, Class, and Style in the Lyric DrameBienséance in Ancien Régime Opera Opéra Comique and the Drame Romance and Refinement Recitative for the Peuple Lyric Drame at the Opéra 3. The Musical Revolutions of Marie Antoinette The Musical Patronage of a Habsburg QueenTragédie Lyrique and Its Parodies// Italian Opera at the French Court Despotism and Privilège 4. The Decadence of the Pastoral Pastoral Living at the Petit Trianon “Private” Pastorals: The Troupe des Seigneurs Ceremonial Pastorals for Court and Capital The Pastoral as Adaptation: C. S. Favart’s Ninette à la cour 5. “Heroic” Comedy on the Eve of 1789 Opera and Revolution at the Salle Favart The Development of “Heroic” Comedy The “Heroic” Sargines Continuity and Rupture 6. Epilogue: The Foundation of a “People’s” Art Richard Coeur de Lion: The First Fifty YearsRichard Coeur de Lion: The First Hundred Years Conclusions: Richard Coeur de Lion and the Revolutionary Centennial Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£43.20
The University of Chicago Press Feasting and Fasting in Opera
Book SynopsisFeasting and Fasting in Opera shows that the consumption of food and drink is an essential component of opera, both on and off stage. In this book, opera scholar Pierpaolo Polzonetti explores how convivial culture shaped the birth of opera and opera-going rituals until the mid-nineteenth century, when eating and drinking at the opera house were still common. Through analyses of convivial scenes in operas, the book also shows how the consumption of food and drink, and sharing or the refusal to do so, define characters' identity and relationships. Feasting and Fasting in Opera moves chronologically from around 1480 to the middle of the nineteenth century, when Wagner's operatic reforms banished refreshments during the performance and mandated a darkened auditorium and absorbed listening. The book focuses on questions of comedy, pleasure, embodiment, and indulgencelooking at fasting, poisoning, food disorders, body types, diet, and social, ethnic, and gender identitiesin both tragic aTrade Review”Polzonetti allows himself some nostalgia for the world we have lost, including the experience of eating at the opera, and speculates that operagoers of the past may have possessed ‘a better economy of attention’, which ‘did not include pretending to be engaged when they were not ‘." * Times Literary Supplement *"Feasting and Fasting in Opera is a highly singular book, which is to be expected given that gastromusicology—itself a highly singular term—is associated with one person and one person alone. Pierpaolo Polzonetti has set out to explore how convivial pleasures animated life on both sides of the boundary separating the stage from the world, a boundary that, as he demonstrates, was far more porous before Wagner tacked a 'no food or drink' sign to the door at Bayreuth and locked us all in the dark." * Journal of the American Musicological Society *"Producers of modern entertainments should find useful information about alternative uses of food and drinks, especially if they are considering re-introducing feasting into operatic performances. Thus, this book is for researchers in this field and for opera-buffs." * Pennsylvania Literary Journal *"Brilliant. . . [Polzonetti] demonstrates in delectable prose that food and drink–including how and when they are consumed, and situations in which an individual refrains from eating or refuses to dine with another—are central to a major Western cultural institution: opera." * The Arts Fuse *"The meat of the book is the role of food and drink in an opera’s narrative and music." * UC Davis College of Letters and Science *"Feasting and Fasting in Opera constitutes a novel and welcome link of musicology and food studies. . . Further, it reminds readers how gastronomic pleasures were once blended with the opera going experience, an infusion we might do well to reinstate." * Gastronomica *“Who knew that food and opera are, and have always been, intimately connected? With his humanistic learning, linguistic virtuosity, and trademark tasty wit, Polzonetti takes us from classical texts to cannibalism and on to Callas. Historical recipes are a bonus for readers interested in a more multi-modal experience of Polzonetti’s brilliant work.” -- Mary Hunter, Bowdoin College“Opera and feasting go splendidly together: we want to combine an evening at the opera with a good dinner, even if we are no longer allowed, as we once were, to take our refreshments during a performance. Even so, no one until now has explored the proximity of opera and food in such depth and with such illuminating insights as Pierpaolo Polzonetti. This is the book to turn to if you want to understand that we owe the birth of opera not only to the learned disputations in Renaissance academies, but also to the elaborate multi-media banqueting practices of the period. Polzonetti is attuned to the significance of what and how the audiences ate during performances until the practice was eliminated during the nineteenth century, victim of middle-class propriety. He is just as attuned to the significance of what and how was consumed by the protagonists of Italianate opera from Monteverdi through Mozart, to Verdi and Puccini. This book offers a feast as delicious as it is nutritious, but be forewarned: reading it will make you hungry.” -- Karol Berger, Stanford University“Polzonetti cleverly weaves together the history of opera with a beloved culture of delicious Italian food, and then some!” -- Francesca Zambello, Artistic and General Director of The Glimmerglass Festival and Artistic Director of the Washington National Opera“Food and the opera have certainly always gone together—before, during, and after the show. Today, eating at the opera is no longer considered respectful, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those restrictions are lifted in the near future. Theatergoers would be jealous of the spreads that are backstage in the dressing room areas, and even the little snacks that some performers hide in their costumes in case of an emergency. I just love this book. It’s making me hungry!” -- Nathan Gunn, co-director, Lyric Theatre at Illinois
£36.00
The University of Chicago Press Don Giovanni Captured
Book SynopsisDon Giovanni Captured considers the life of a single opera, engaging with the entire history of its recorded performance. Mozart's opera Don Giovanni has long inspired myths about eros and masculinity. Over time, its performance history has revealed a growing trend toward critiquean increasing effort on the part of performers and directors to highlight the violence and predatoriness of the libertine central character, alongside the suffering and resilience of his female victims. In Don Giovanni Captured, Richard Will sets out to analyze more than a century's worth ofrecorded performances of the opera, tracing the ways it has changed from one performance to another and from one generation to the next. Will consults audio recordings, starting with wax cylinders and 78s, as well as video recordings, including DVDs, films, and streaming videos. As Will argues, recordings and other media shape our experience of opera as much as live performance does. Seen as a historical record, opera recordings are also a potent reminder of the refusal of works such as Don Giovanni to sit still. By choosing a work with such a rich and complex tradition of interpretation, Will helps us see Don Giovanni as a standard-bearer for evolving ideas about desire and power, both on and off the stage.Trade Review"A fascinating new book by the musicologist Richard Will, 'Don Giovanni' Captured, reviews and analyzes the history of recordings of the opera, dating back to the age of early phonograph records at the beginning of the twentieth century. . . Don Giovanni, an opera that is almost entirely set at night, is certainly a dark comedy, if it is a comedy at all, and Will’s study of its exceptionally varied recording history suggests all the different shades of light and darkness that constitute the moral chiaroscuro of this elusive work." * New York Review of Books *“Will combines social sensitivity with a rare trove of historical perceptions that will prove rewarding to readers who have some familiarity with Mozart’s score. His analysis of the changing sound and use of recitative, like his illustration of the crucial role of conductors, is especially enriching.” * Opera News *"Musicologist Richard Will’s fascinating study, Don Giovanni Captured, examines the way Mozart and Da Ponte’s opera has been heard and seen since the birth of recorded sound... For those of us who care about opera, Don Giovanni Captured is a fascinating book." * New York Journal of Books *“Richard Will’s ‘Don Giovanni’ Captured is a welcome addition to approaches to Mozart’s masterpiece, so often marooned in constraining music-critical discourse or run aground in moral debates. Armed now with Will’s multiple accounts of audio and visual recordings, we have a richly mediated history that will disrupt how we think about operas as ‘works’ while superseding more insular and less historical analyses. ‘Don Giovanni’ Captured, by building on a lively archive of performed recordings, will greatly expand the horizons of how we teach and think about this incomparable work.” * Martha Feldman, University of Chicago *“This is a highly original book, one of the first to devote detailed and sustained attention to the history of a work’s recorded interpretation. It is quite astonishing to think that nothing of the sort has existed until now, given that we have lived with recordings for well over a century. ‘Don Giovanni’ Captured constitutes a most welcome and timely addition to the literature on Don Giovanni, Mozart’s operas, the genre of opera, and indeed the entire field of musicology.” * Emanuele Senici, University of Rome La Sapienza *"This is a fascinating and long-overdue study of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni as it has been presented in recorded form, both aurally and visually . . . Highly recommended." * Choice *"This insightful and original study illuminates fundamental trends in the performance of Mozart over the past 125 years, while also exploring the history of the recording industry as well as demonstrating the implications of performance choices for understanding the opera’s many complexities." * Early Music America *Table of ContentsNote to Readers List of Tables List of Figures Introduction Part I Clouds of Feeling: Excerpt Audio Recordings 1 Imagining Excerpts 2 Rhetorics of Seduction 3 Demons and Dandies 4 All Too Human Part II Invented Works: Complete Audio Recordings 5 The Virtual Stage 6 Cruel Laughter 7 Dancing in Time Part III Partial Visions: Video Recordings 8 Zooming In, Gazing Back 9 Trauma Retold 10 Libertines Punished Acknowledgments Notes Discography Videography Bibliography Index
£32.40
The University of Chicago Press Networking Operatic Italy
Book SynopsisA study of the networks of opera production and critical discourse that shaped Italian cultural identity during and after Unification. Opera's role in shaping Italian identity has long fascinated both critics and scholars. Whereas the romance of the Risorgimento once spurred analyses of how individual works and styles grew out of and fostered specifically Italian sensibilities and modes of address, more recently scholars have discovered the ways in which opera has animated Italians' social and cultural life in myriad different local contexts. In Networking Operatic Italy, Francesca Vella reexamines this much-debated topic by exploring how, where, and why opera traveled on the mid-nineteenth-century peninsula, and what this mobility meant for opera, Italian cities, and Italy alike. Focusing on the 1850s to the 1870s, Vella attends to opera's encounters with new technologies of transportation and communication, as well as its continued dissemination through newspapers, wind bands, Trade Review“Thoroughly and rigorously researched and at the same time beautifully written, Networking Operatic Italy is a must-read for scholars and teachers in musicology, opera studies, Italian studies, and media studies. Francesca Vella deftly negotiates media theory and historical context, including reception theory, with refined and elegant readings of her musical texts. Her chapters on Verdi’s Aida and on military bands are a model for interdisciplinary research in the humanities.” * Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, Brown University *“Vella breaks with the idea that nineteenth-century Italians were obsessed with their own culture and traditions and the narrow boundaries of their local communities. Networking Operatic Italy presents a new chapter in musicological research, introducing mobility studies into the history of opera and offering fascinating new interpretations of Italians’ engagement with music and theater. This is a book of great erudition and imaginative power.” * Axel Körner, University College London *“Networking Operatic Italy is an innovative and exciting exploration of opera on the move in mid-nineteenth-century Italy at the crucial time of national unification. Vella asks what these travels meant not only for opera, but also for a nation in the making. Her imaginative and comprehensive answers make for a compelling, multifaceted, and wholly original book.” * Emanuele Senici, University of Rome La Sapienza *“Astutely researched, Networking Operatic Italy weaves together an impressive array of recent humanistic trends. Tending to the local and the global, to mobility, materiality, temporality, technologies, media, and the voice, its case studies offer a unique journey through Italy’s rich operatic cultures in the decades around Unification. Vella thus manages to reframe the seemingly well-traveled world of later nineteenth-century Italian opera in view of its networked affordances, contingencies, and (often conflicting) modernizing impulses.” * Gundula Kreuzer, Yale University *"By contextualizing operatic practices within a wide arrange of theoretical, textual, visual, and sonic sources, the book delivers an innovative look at operatic culture in the context of Italy’s national formation and the Risorgimento. It is a fresh approach to mobility and transnational studies, one that makes the connection between a 'locality' such as Piacenza, commensurably relevant vis-à-vis the globality of Milan or Venice. For the rigor and originality of its primary sources, for the brilliancy and clarity of its argument, and for the refinement and elegance of its eloquence, Networking Operatic Italy is worthy of praise." * AAIS Book Prize *"In this enticing monograph, artists and operas travel the globe, technologies evolve and malfunction, and literary, archival, and musical sources are put in dialogue in innovative ways . . . The historical exploration Vella undertakes is markedly interdisciplinary. She ties and unties knots between the disciplines of literature, media studies, histories of technology, and musicology in new and unexpected ways. Her impressive synthesis reveals a fascinating tapestry of Italian culture, while inviting further research on the twists and tangles of operatic history." * Music and Letters *"Francesca Vella’s groundbreaking debut monograph Networking Operatic Italy will certainly not go unnoticed across a wide spectrum of disciplines such as opera studies, reception, and performance studies. The author’s refreshing outlook and compelling prose contribute to making the text a must-read for any serious investigation of nineteenth-century Italian culture." * Sound Stage Screen *
£43.20
The University of Chicago Press Ernani Partitura Con Commento Critico Inglese The
Book Synopsis
£456.00
The University of Chicago Press The Requiem MassMessa Da Requiem The Works
Book SynopsisMessa da Requiem is the fourth work to be published in The Works of Giuseppe Verdi. Following the strict requirements of the series, this edition is based on Verdi's autograph and other authentic sources, and has been reviewed by a distinguished editorial boardPhilip Gossett (general editor), Julian Budden, Martin Chusid, Francesco Degrada, Ursula Günther, Giorgio Pestelli, and Pierluigi Petrobelli. It is available as a two-volume set: a full orchestral score and a critical commentary. The appendixes include two pieces from the compositional history of the Requiem: an early version of the Libera me, composed in 1869 as part of a collaborative work planned as a memorial to Rossini; and the Liber scriptus, which in the original score of the Manzoni memorial Requiem was composed as a fugue in G minor. The score, which has been beautifully bound and autographed, is printed on high-grade paper in an oversized format. The introduction to the score discusses the work's genesis, instrumentatio
£380.00
The University of Chicago Press La Traviata Melodrama in Three Acts by Francesco
Book SynopsisThis critical edition presents the 1854 version as the main score, and also makes available the full score and the original 1853 settings of the revised pieces. For this text Fabrizio della Seta used the composer's autograph and many secondary sources, but also Verdi's previously unknown sketches.
£456.00
The University of Chicago Press Attila
Book Synopsis
£304.00
Columbia University Press Recent American Opera A Production Guide
Book SynopsisProvides information on the music, libretto, and major roles of operas and music theater works by more that one hundred modern American composers, and includes selections from reviews of each work.
£76.00
Columbia University Press A Short History of Opera
Book SynopsisTraces the developments in the evolution of musical drama. This book aims to reveal the genre's beginnings in the seventeenth century and its progress. It examines the standard performance repertoire and works considered important for the genre's development. It also presents an investigation of opera from Eastern European countries and Finland.Trade ReviewWhether it be Monteverdi or Gluck or Wagner, no saner guide than Grout can be recommended The Times Literary Supplement (of earlier edition) Combines learning with a grace of expression seldom encountered in works of this kind. The subject is treated in greater detail than the word 'short'might indicate. Saturday Review (of earlier edition) A Short History of Opera is perhaps one of the best known and most widely circulated texts on the history of this art form...This is a vitally important book, and it is likely to be one of the first places students, researchers, and fans will consult. -- Tom Kaufman The Opera QuarterlyTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface to the Fourth Edition Introduction Part I. Music and Drama to the End of the Sixteenth Century 1. The Lyric Theater of the Greeks 2. Medieval Dramatic Music 3. The Immediate Forerunners of Opera Part II. The Seventeenth Century 4. The Beginnings: Opera in Florence and Mantua 5. Other Early Seventeenth-Century Italian Court Operas, Including the First Comic Operas in Florence and Rome 6. Italian Opera in the Later Seventeenth Century in Italy 7. Seventeenth-Century Italian Opera in German-Speaking Lands 8. Early German Opera 9. Opera in France from Lully to Charpentier 10. Opera in England Part III. The Eighteenth Century 11. Masters of the Early Eighteenth Century 12. Opera Seria: General Characteristics 13. Opera Seria: The Composers 14. The Operas of Gluck 15. The Comic Opera of the Eighteenth Century 16. The Operas of Mozart and His Viennese Contemporaries Part IV. The Nineteenth Century 17. The Turn of the Century 18. Grand Opera 19. Opera Comique, Operetta, and Lyric Opera 20. Italian Opera of the Primo Ottocento: Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, and Their Contemporaries 21. The Romantic Opera in Germany 22. The Operas of Wagner 23. The Later Nineteenth Century: France, Italy, Germany, and Austria Part V. Other National Traditions of Opera from the Seventeenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries 24. National Traditions of Opera Part VI. The Twentieth Century 25. Introduction / Opera in France and Italy 26. Opera in the German-Speaking Countries 27. National Traditions in Russia and Neighboring Countries; Central and Eastern Europe; Greece and Turkey; the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland; Spain, Portugal, and Latin America 28. Opera in the British Isles; Canada; Australia and New Zealand(r)MDBRO (r)MDNMO 29. Opera in the United States Appendix: Chinese Opera List of Abbreviations Bibliography Sources and Translations of Musical Examples Index
£40.00
Columbia University Press The Don Giovanni Moment
Book SynopsisMozart's Don Giovanni is an operatic masterpiece full of iconic and mythical tensions. This book examines the aesthetic and moral legacy of Mozart's opera in the literature, philosophy, and culture of the nineteenth century. It also addresses the opera's impact on the philosophical visions of Kierkegaard, Goethe, and Williams.Trade ReviewThe Don Giovanni Moment is the book for readers who have had enough of the discussion of who Mozart really was, and who want to understand the music's impact on the intellect and, more widely, its influence on Western culture. -- Alex Ross New Yorker [This] new volume enriches the flourishing field of opera studies both within and beyond German studies. -- Kevin S. Amidon German Studies Review One marvels at how Don Giovanni ranges over the thought and culture of the nineteenth century and its aftermath... [and] applauds the editors. -- Edmund J. Goehring Current Musicology this new collection is unusual and thought-provoking. Eighteenth Century MusicTable of ContentsList of Contributors Introduction, by Lydia Goehr and Daniel Herwitz 1. Don Giovanni: "And what communion hath light with darkness?," by Ingrid Rowland 2. Don Juan and Faust: On the Interaction Between Two Literary Myths, by Ernst Osterkamp 3. "Hidden Secrets of the Self ": E. T. A. Hoffmann's Reading of Don Giovanni, by Richard Eldridge 4. Don Juan in Nicholas's Russia (Pushkin's The Stone Guest), by Boris Gasparov 5. Morike's Mozart and the Scent of a Woman, by Hans Rudolf Vaget 6. The Gothic Libertine: The Shadow of Don Giovanni in Romantic Music and Culture, by Thomas S. Grey 7. Don Juan as an Idea, by Bernard Williams 8. Kierkegaard Writes His Opera, Daniel Herwitz 9. The Curse and Promise of the Absolutely Musical: Tristan und Isolde and Don Giovanni, by Lydia Goehr 10. Authority and Judgment in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Wagner's Ring, by Philip Kitcher and Richard Schacht 11. Mozart's Don Giovanni in Shaw's Comedy, Agnes Heller 12. Giovanni auf Naxos, Brian Soucek 13. Homage to Adorno's "Homage to Zerlina," by Berthold Hoeckner 14. Adorno and the Don, by Nikolaus Bacht
£78.20
Columbia University Press Deaths in Venice
Book SynopsisDiving into the philosophical depths of Thomas Mann's beloved novella, as imagined in words, music, and film.Trade ReviewPhilip Kitcher's book is a profession of love: for Mann's novella, for Mahler's music, and for the commitment to ideas and reflections on life that a certain current of German culture represented in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One senses that Kitcher has so completely immersed himself in the works of Mann, Mahler's music, their biographies, and to an extent the works by Britten and Visconti, that he speaks from within these works and lives. -- Mark M. Anderson, Columbia University Unusually rich, rewarding, and astounding in its range, Deaths in Venice asks important philosophical questions-about art's demands on its practitioners, its connections to the rest of life, and the possibility of endowing our short, evanescent lives with some lasting significance. More than reaching conclusions, these works provide beginnings: examples of new human possibilities that are not to be imitated but transcended-and that, in large part, is how the book itself proceeds. This is much more than a work on the philosophy of art: it does philosophy with art. -- Alexander Nehamas, Princeton University Deaths in Venice is a thorough discussion of the possible relation of literature, and art in general, to philosophical thinking. It is this double intensity of perspectives-a double intensity that is never sacrificed in the one or the other direction-that makes reading the book a unique experience. -- Rudiger Campe, Yale University Deaths in Venice is to the twenty-first century what Nietzsche's literary and musical criticism was to the nineteenth: a philosopher's profound, shrewd, learned, sharp-eyed, and humane interpretation of art, which is also a profound interpretation of daily life. Starting from the doomed, lonely passion of Thomas Mann's Aschenbach, Philip Kitcher explores three millennia of thinking and the hidden mysteries of the individual mind as it confronts itself, its neighbors, and the universe. -- Edward Mendelson, Columbia University [An] outstanding, intellectually agile book, which sheds so much fresh light on Mann's work and on the philosophical questions that it explores. -- Ritchie Robertson Times Literary Supplement Original and thought provoking... [Deaths in Venice] is a delight to read, and Kitcher's deep commitment to humanism and his passion for art radiate contagiously from every page. -- Iris Vidmar Philosophy and LiteratureTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface List of Abbreviations A Note on Translations 1. Discipline 2. Beauty 3. Shadows Notes Index
£25.50
Columbia University Press Deaths in Venice The Cases of Gustav von
Book SynopsisDiving into the philosophical depths of Thomas Mann's beloved novella, as imagined in words, music, and film.Trade ReviewPhilip Kitcher's book is a profession of love: for Mann's novella, for Mahler's music, and for the commitment to ideas and reflections on life that a certain current of German culture represented in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One senses that Kitcher has so completely immersed himself in the works of Mann, Mahler's music, their biographies, and to an extent the works by Britten and Visconti, that he speaks from within these works and lives. -- Mark M. Anderson, Columbia University Unusually rich, rewarding, and astounding in its range, Deaths in Venice asks important philosophical questions-about art's demands on its practitioners, its connections to the rest of life, and the possibility of endowing our short, evanescent lives with some lasting significance. More than reaching conclusions, these works provide beginnings: examples of new human possibilities that are not to be imitated but transcended-and that, in large part, is how the book itself proceeds. This is much more than a work on the philosophy of art: it does philosophy with art. -- Alexander Nehamas, Princeton University Deaths in Venice is a thorough discussion of the possible relation of literature, and art in general, to philosophical thinking. It is this double intensity of perspectives-a double intensity that is never sacrificed in the one or the other direction-that makes reading the book a unique experience. -- Rudiger Campe, Yale University Deaths in Venice is to the twenty-first century what Nietzsche's literary and musical criticism was to the nineteenth: a philosopher's profound, shrewd, learned, sharp-eyed, and humane interpretation of art, which is also a profound interpretation of daily life. Starting from the doomed, lonely passion of Thomas Mann's Aschenbach, Philip Kitcher explores three millennia of thinking and the hidden mysteries of the individual mind as it confronts itself, its neighbors, and the universe. -- Edward Mendelson, Columbia University [An] outstanding, intellectually agile book, which sheds so much fresh light on Mann's work and on the philosophical questions that it explores. -- Ritchie Robertson Times Literary Supplement Original and thought provoking... [Deaths in Venice] is a delight to read, and Kitcher's deep commitment to humanism and his passion for art radiate contagiously from every page. -- Iris Vidmar Philosophy and LiteratureTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface List of Abbreviations A Note on Translations 1. Discipline 2. Beauty 3. Shadows Notes Index
£19.80
Penguin Books Ltd The Ring of the Nibelung
Book SynopsisA superb new translation of one of the greatest nineteenth century poems: the libretto to Wagner''s Ring cycleThe scale and grandeur of Wagner''s The Ring of the Nibelung has no precedent and no successor. It preoccupied Wagner for much of his adult life and revolutionized the nature of opera, the orchestra, the demands on singers and on the audience itself. The four operas-The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods - are complete worlds, conjuring up extraordinary mythological landscapes through sound as much as staging. Wagner wrote the entire libretto before embarking on the music. Discarding the grand choruses and bravura duets central to most operas, he used the largest musical forces in the context often of only a handful of singers on stage. The words were essential: he was telling a story and making an argument in a way that required absolute attention to what was said. The libretto for The Ring lies at the heart of nineteenth century culture. It is in itself a work of power and grandeur and it had an incalculable effect on European and specifically German culture. John Deathridge''s superb new translation, with notes and a fascinating introduction, is essential for anyone who wishes to get to grips with one of the great musical experiences.Trade ReviewNow comes the new translation by John Deathridge, doyen of English-speaking Wagner scholars, with a grasp of his life and writings that may never have been equalled. [...] In that noble enterprise he seems to me to be entirely successful. [...] 'Awesome' is a word I detest, but how else can one describe that? Beautifully presented and authoritative, which can only [...] cast light on this inexhaustible masterwork. -- Michael Tanner * Spectator *The Ring provides a meticulous study of the psychology of politics and power[...] Hugely illuminating [...] Deathridge's translation, flexibly and vividly conceived, shines a special light into the literary and psychological depths of the Ring. -- Benjamin Poore * Asymptote Journal *For the past decade, Penguin has been producing handsome hardcover versions of their classics [...] both elegant and quirky in shocks of bright color * The New York Times *
£21.25
University of Illinois Press The Magic of Beverly Sills
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Beverly Sills came along at the perfect moment, quenching the public's thirst for a bona fide STAR. Now this book comes along at the perfect moment to quench this generation's thirst for insight into what made her shine so radiantly."--Joyce DiDonato"Guy's study goes well beyond the operatic stage or record studio to consider her subject's broad appeal and popularity."--ARSC Journal "Guy's refreshing book offers a timely contrast between the cultural backdrop of the 20th century and that of the present… This is a captivating work on Sill's unique, spellbinding artistry. Highly recommended."--Choice "An exhaustively researched, thoughtful, well-written treatment of one of the most important and beloved musicians the U.S. has ever produced."--Timothy D. Taylor, author of The Sounds of Capitalism: Advertising, Music, and the Conquest of Culture"What stays with one most about Guy's study is the passion behind it, and the way it evokes a time in which an opera could be that relevant to so many."--Opera News“Nancy Guy’s The Magic of Beverly Sills couldn’t be more timely. In an era when opera needs stars, the author has given us a fascinating, comprehensive look at the elusive magic of an artist who enchanted not only opera devotees, but the entire nation."--Renée Fleming"Frequently, biographies of opera singers are basically gushing with enthusiasm and overstated personal opinions. This book avoids those pitfalls and adds important scholarly information about how to think about an opera singer, her roles, and her fans."--Naomi André, coeditor of Blackness in Opera"Guy's elegant biography gets to the heart of Sills's magnetic stage presence and parses the performer's power to mesmerize audiences with ineffable and poignant cultural magic."--Jill Dolan, author of The Feminist Spectator in Action: Feminist Criticism for the Stage and Screen
£21.59
University of Illinois Press Chinatown Opera Theater in North America
Book SynopsisAwards:Irving Lowens Award, Society for American Music (SAM), 2019Music in American Culture Award, American Musicological Society (AMS), 2018Trade ReviewIrving Lowens Award, Society for American Music (SAM), 2019 Music in American Culture Award, American Musicological Society (AMS), 2018 Certificate of Merit for Best Historical Research in Recorded Country, Folk, Roots, or World Music, Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), 2018 Outstanding Achievement in Humanities and Cultural Studies: Media, Visual, and Performance Studies, Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS), 2019 "Detailed, historically sound, and entertaining . . . Chinatown Opera Theater in America is an extraordinary accomplishment, and its many revelations open a world unseen for nearly a century. The glory that was is now again seen, as Chinatown Opera Theater puts the spotlight on the high achievements of the early Chinese American community that is too often portrayed otherwise in American history." --International Examiner"Chinatown Opera Theater, with its new global knowledge, provides in that sense a compelling alternative space in which to contemplate -- for opera studies and the academy of which it is a part -- the ongoing and inescapable anxieties of Western-reflexive scholarship." --Cambridge Opera Journal"Rao's detailed and engaging study reminds us of the xenophobia that continues to mark the Asian American experience. This book is implicitly an act of resistance not only against erasure, but also against racist tropes that have existed in history and reverberate into the present." --Theatre Journal"Chinatown Opera Theater in North America is a treasure trove that celebrates the transnational development of Cantonese Opera in North America in the 1920s." --Studies in Theatre and Performance"Achieves a sharpness of focus and depth of detail that takes our understanding of the history of Cantonese opera in North America to a new level . . . Chinatown Opera Theater in North America is an excellent piece of historical scholarship, and a unique and original contribution to our knowledge of Chinese performing arts in the Americas."--Ethnomusicology Forum"Rao's book not only complements Wing Chung Ng's study of the rise of Cantonese Opera and Bell Yung's analysis of its creative process, but also constitutes a significant contribution to Asian-American Studies, Chinese Studies, and American music history."--China Review International"Chinatown Theater in North America represents a significant contribution in theater scholarship. It is a book that is sure to provoke further discussion among all those who have an interest either in Chinese opera or musicology or American history or cultural studies. There is much to impress and enjoy in this interestingly illustrated book, and it is a welcome study of the subject."--Studies in Theatre and Performance"Through her in-depth archival research and adept linguistic and musicological skills, [Rao] brings to light the importance of Chinese immigrant music making. . . . A significant contribution to our understanding of the history of music making, particularly in the United States."--Theatre Survey "Rao's book is an important text that should be included in musicology or ethnomusicology courses, not only for the historical and cultural reference that it brings to bear, but also for how the genre of Cantonese opera improves our understanding of the world today." --American Music Review "An engaging manifesto. . . . This book is an invaluable source for educators, students, and general readers." --Asian Theatre Journal "The story Rao lays out in this work is rich and complex....It is therefore a story that should be of great interest to many CHINOPERL readers." --CHINOPERL "The book is abundant in content and, most of all, admirable in the sense of connectivity Rao adroitly establishes." --Journal of the American Musicological Society "Reading Nancy Yunhua Rao's Chinatown Opera Theater in North America is a great treat. . . . Rao's work makes a crucial contribution to scholarship on Chinese theatre, specifically Cantonese opera, in the diaspora, as well as to larger scholarly discussions on transationalism." --World of Music "Chinatown Opera Theater in North America does nothing less than situate Cantonese opera firmly within the warp and weft of the American musical fabric. . . . All in all, Rao's study is a wonder." --Journal of the Society for American Music "Rao's elegant writing provides insight into the mind of a scholar and researcher. The insistence on lifting 'the silence' and undoing 'invisibility' results in an influential recalibration of narratives on the history of American music." --MUSICultures "Chinatown Opera Theater, with its new global knowledge, provides in that sense a compelling alternative space in which to contemplate -- for opera studies and the academy of which it is a part -- the ongoing and inescapable anxieties of Western-reflexive scholarship." --Cambridge Opera Journal "Comprehensively conceived, exhaustively researched, and clearly written, Rao’s book is an extraordinary achievement documenting a unique musical and theatrical genre in North American history. Showing how border crossing enriches the cultural tapestry of this land, it is a must-read for those interested in American music, theater, and social history."--Bell Yung, coeditor of Music and Cultural Rights
£87.55
University of Illinois Press The World Got Away
Book Synopsis One of the most innovative composers of his generation, Mikel Rouse is known for a trilogy of operas that includes Dennis Cleveland and a gift for superimposing pop vernaculars onto avant-garde music. This memoir channels Rouse’s high energy personality into an exuberant account of the precarity and pleasures of artistic creation. Raconteur and starving artist, witty observer and acclaimed musician, Rouse emerged from the legendary art world of 1980s New York to build a forty-year career defined by stage and musical successes, inexhaustible creativity, and a support network of famous faces, loyal allies, and high art hustlers. Rouse guides readers through a working artists’ hardscrabble life while illuminating the unromantic truth that a project’s reception may depend on a talented cast and crew but can depend on reliable air conditioning. Candid and hilarious, The World Got Away is a one-of-a-kind account of a creative life fue
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Chinatown Opera Theater in North America
Book SynopsisAwards:Irving Lowens Award, Society for American Music (SAM), 2019Music in American Culture Award, American Musicological Society (AMS), 2018Trade ReviewIrving Lowens Award, Society for American Music (SAM), 2019 Music in American Culture Award, American Musicological Society (AMS), 2018 Certificate of Merit for Best Historical Research in Recorded Country, Folk, Roots, or World Music, Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), 2018 Outstanding Achievement in Humanities and Cultural Studies: Media, Visual, and Performance Studies, Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS), 2019 "Detailed, historically sound, and entertaining . . . Chinatown Opera Theater in America is an extraordinary accomplishment, and its many revelations open a world unseen for nearly a century. The glory that was is now again seen, as Chinatown Opera Theater puts the spotlight on the high achievements of the early Chinese American community that is too often portrayed otherwise in American history." --International Examiner"Chinatown Opera Theater, with its new global knowledge, provides in that sense a compelling alternative space in which to contemplate -- for opera studies and the academy of which it is a part -- the ongoing and inescapable anxieties of Western-reflexive scholarship." --Cambridge Opera Journal"Rao's detailed and engaging study reminds us of the xenophobia that continues to mark the Asian American experience. This book is implicitly an act of resistance not only against erasure, but also against racist tropes that have existed in history and reverberate into the present." --Theatre Journal"Chinatown Opera Theater in North America is a treasure trove that celebrates the transnational development of Cantonese Opera in North America in the 1920s." --Studies in Theatre and Performance"Achieves a sharpness of focus and depth of detail that takes our understanding of the history of Cantonese opera in North America to a new level . . . Chinatown Opera Theater in North America is an excellent piece of historical scholarship, and a unique and original contribution to our knowledge of Chinese performing arts in the Americas."--Ethnomusicology Forum"Rao's book not only complements Wing Chung Ng's study of the rise of Cantonese Opera and Bell Yung's analysis of its creative process, but also constitutes a significant contribution to Asian-American Studies, Chinese Studies, and American music history."--China Review International"Chinatown Theater in North America represents a significant contribution in theater scholarship. It is a book that is sure to provoke further discussion among all those who have an interest either in Chinese opera or musicology or American history or cultural studies. There is much to impress and enjoy in this interestingly illustrated book, and it is a welcome study of the subject."--Studies in Theatre and Performance"Through her in-depth archival research and adept linguistic and musicological skills, [Rao] brings to light the importance of Chinese immigrant music making. . . . A significant contribution to our understanding of the history of music making, particularly in the United States."--Theatre Survey "Rao's book is an important text that should be included in musicology or ethnomusicology courses, not only for the historical and cultural reference that it brings to bear, but also for how the genre of Cantonese opera improves our understanding of the world today." --American Music Review "An engaging manifesto. . . . This book is an invaluable source for educators, students, and general readers." --Asian Theatre Journal "The story Rao lays out in this work is rich and complex....It is therefore a story that should be of great interest to many CHINOPERL readers." --CHINOPERL "The book is abundant in content and, most of all, admirable in the sense of connectivity Rao adroitly establishes." --Journal of the American Musicological Society "Reading Nancy Yunhua Rao's Chinatown Opera Theater in North America is a great treat. . . . Rao's work makes a crucial contribution to scholarship on Chinese theatre, specifically Cantonese opera, in the diaspora, as well as to larger scholarly discussions on transationalism." --World of Music "Chinatown Opera Theater in North America does nothing less than situate Cantonese opera firmly within the warp and weft of the American musical fabric. . . . All in all, Rao's study is a wonder." --Journal of the Society for American Music "Rao's elegant writing provides insight into the mind of a scholar and researcher. The insistence on lifting 'the silence' and undoing 'invisibility' results in an influential recalibration of narratives on the history of American music." --MUSICultures "Chinatown Opera Theater, with its new global knowledge, provides in that sense a compelling alternative space in which to contemplate -- for opera studies and the academy of which it is a part -- the ongoing and inescapable anxieties of Western-reflexive scholarship." --Cambridge Opera Journal "Comprehensively conceived, exhaustively researched, and clearly written, Rao’s book is an extraordinary achievement documenting a unique musical and theatrical genre in North American history. Showing how border crossing enriches the cultural tapestry of this land, it is a must-read for those interested in American music, theater, and social history."--Bell Yung, coeditor of Music and Cultural Rights
£21.59
Indiana University Press Reconfiguring Myth and Narrative in Contemporary
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIn the last 20 years, scholarly research on opera has encompassed cultural, media, gender, psychoanalytic, and literary theories. With this book, Everett makes an important, impressive contribution to that scholarship. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice *[O]ne of the most satisfying aspects of Reconfiguring Myth is Everett's sensitive attention to the way different productions articulate an opera as historical drama, allegory, and myth; such case studies set a new standard in our understanding of contemporary opera as not only a multi-dimensional, but also a constantly changing theatrical experience. * Music and Letters *Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsList of Abbreviations1. Toward a Multimodal Discourse on Opera2. Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar: A Myth of "Wounded" Freedom3. Kaija Saariaho's Adriana Mater: A Narrative of Trauma and Ambivalence4. John Adams' Doctor Atomic: A Faustian Parable for the Modern Age?5. The Anti-hero in Tan Dun's The First EmperorEpilogue: Opera as Myth in the Global AgeGlossaryNotesBibliographyIndex
£31.50
Indiana University Press Roland Hayes
Book SynopsisPerforming in a country rife with racism and segregation, the tenor Roland Hayes was the first African American man to reach international fame as a concert performer and one of the few artists who could sell out Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall, and Covent Garden. His trailblazing career carved the way for a host of African American artists, including Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson. Performing the African American spirituals he was raised on, Hayes's voice was marked with a unique sonority which easily navigated French, German, and Italian art songs. A multiculturalist both on and off the stage, he counted among his friends George Washington Carver, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ezra Pound, Pearl Buck, Dwight Eisenhower, and Langston Hughes. This engaging biography spans the history of Hayes's life and career and the legacy he left behind as a musician and a champion of African American rights. It is an authentic, panoramic portrait of a man who was as complex as the music he performed.Trade ReviewLargely forgotten today outside specialist circles, the African-American tenor Roland Hayes (1887–1976) was a much admired and internationally celebrated artist during his lifetime. As the authors of this substantial and well-documented new biography suggest, a reluctance to broadcast and a relatively limited recording career have prevented wider circulation of his fame in our own day. . . The authors detail his long career meticulously, as well as his complicated private life. * BBC Music Magazine *Well researched, with several primary sources and newspapers cited, the volume includes 48 illustrations of Hayes and other musicians. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice *An impressive work of scholarship, shedding light on a significant figure in American music and the time in which he lived. * Epoch Times *What we have here is a thorough and well-documented account of the life of a most interesting artist, one who was both a racial pioneer and a fine interpreter of both European art music and African-American spirituals. * ARSC Journal *With moving contributions from tenor George Shirley and bass Simon Estes, this text captures the essence of [Hayes's] career thoughtfully compiled with the accuracy of historian Christopher Brooks and the music depth of baritone Robert Sims. This book is a wonderful journey through Hayes' performances, racial plight and acceptance. * Examiner.com *Offers a gripping, sensitive, and balanced story of this historical icon and musician. * The Atlanta Voice *Table of ContentsForewordIntroduction: "I'll Make Me a Man"Prologue1. A New Jerusalem (1887-1911)2. Roland's World in Boston (1911-1920)3. Roland Rules Britannia (1920-1921)4. "Le Rage de Paris" (1921-1922)5. You're Tired, Chile (1923)6. The Hayes Conquest (1923-1924)7. Roland and the Countess (1924-1926)8. The Conquest Slows (1926-1930)9. Hard Trials, Great Tribulations (1930-1935)10. Return to Europe (1936-1942)11. Rome, Georgia—194212. "You can tell the World about This!" (1942-1950)13. Struggles in Remaining Relevant (1950-1959)14. I Wanna Go Home (1960-1977)Epilogue: The Hayes Legacy (1977- )AfterwordRoland Hayes: RepertoireBibliographyNotesIndex
£17.99
Indiana University Press Olivier Messiaens Opera Saint Francois dAssise
Book SynopsisIn this comprehensive study of Olivier Messiaen's magnum opus, Saint François d'Assise, Vincent Perez Benitez examines the opera from both theological and musical-analytical perspectives to ask how Messiaen expresses his Catholic theology through his work.Trade ReviewThis well-researched book is wonderfully written with great clarity and organization, and provides a remarkable and original perspective on the work of the great French composer. -- Christopher E. Mehrens * Music Reference Services Quarterly *This volume fulfills Benitez's 'hope that it will serve as an intellectual springboard into the mind of one of the most creative musicians of the twentieth century and Messiaen's self-described 'synthesis of all that he had done up to that point in his career as a composer', the opera Saint François d'Assise." -- Melissa Cummins - Sam Houston State University * MLA NOTES *Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsNotes on the TextIntroduction: Setting the Stage for Messiaen's Compositional Summa1. Theology as Light in Saint François d'Assise2. A Theological Opera and Its Musical Themes3. Form as an Expression of the Beyond4. Chords and Colors: The Harmonic Vocabulary of Saint François d'Assise5. Analyzing the Musical Language of Saint François d'Assise6. Light, Freedom, and the Beauty of Creation: Birdsong in Saint François d'Assise7. Tonal-Dramatic Associations in Saint Francis's Spiritual Journey8. Saint Francis's Path toward the Numinous: A Tonal-Color NarrativeEpilogue: Saint François d'Assise as Religious Drama in a Contemporary WorldAppendix 1 GlossaryAppendix 2 Dramatic SynopsisNotesBibliographyIndex
£67.15
Indiana University Press Three Loves for Three Oranges
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewUniquely, this volume gives us innovative translations, detailed comparisons and interdisciplinary analyses of all three texts detailing the journey from Carl Gozzi's fiaba, through Meyerhold/Soloviev/Vogak's Divertissement, to Prokofiev's opera. Previous literature mapped some of the changes, but none offered the comprehensive analyses we find in this book. . . . The tripartite structure of the book is the most logical in terms of the material and, together with the cited paired chapters, as well as reading chapters as stand-alone texts, allow a multi-focus use both for the specialist and the general reader. The editors are to be congratulated for their overall innovative approach and for making the work of many Italian and Russian scholars available in English. -- F Jane Schopf * Stanislavski Studies *Table of ContentsEditorial NotesList of Definitions and AbbreviationsList of IllustrationsList of Musical ExamplesPreface: How Not to Die Laughing in a Lethal Time, by Caryl EmersonAcknowledgmentsIntroduction, by Dassia N. Posner, Kevin Bartig, and Maria De SimonePart I: The Fiaba1. Reflective Analysis of the Fairy Tale The Love of Three Oranges, by Carlo Gozzi , by Maria De Simone2. The Love of Three Oranges, Venice 1761: A Theatrical Provocation, by Alberto Beniscelli3. A Short Note on the First Sacchi Company , by Giulietta Bazoli4. Gozzi's The Love of Three Oranges: A New Horizon of Expectations, by Domenico Pietropaolo5. Carlo Gozzi's Reactionary Imagination, by Ted Emery6. A Cultural Pastiche of Fantasy, Satire, and Citrus: Gozzi's The Love of Three Oranges in its German Afterlife, by Natalya BaldygaPart II: The Divertissement7. Love for Three Oranges. A Divertissement in Twelve Scenes, a Prologue, an Epilogue, and Three Interludes, by Konstantin Vogak, Vsevolod Meyerhold, and Vladimir Soloviev, by Dassia N. Posner8. Carlo Gozzi in The Journal of Doctor Dapertutto , by Raissa Raskina9. Meyerhold and the Russian Commedia dell'Arte Myth , by Vadim Shcherbakov10. The Miklashevsky Connection, by Laurence Senelick11. From Divertissement to Opera: Two Russian Oranges, by Julia GalaninaPart III: The Opera12. Love for Three Oranges, by Sergei Prokofiev , by Kevin Bartig13. Tsardom and Buttocks: From Empress Anna to Prokofiev's Fata Morgana, by Inna Naroditskaya14. Notes on the Musical Parody in Prokofiev's Three Oranges , by Natalia Savkina15. Notes on the Notes , by Simon A. Morrison16. Boris Anisfeld, an Alchemist of Color , by John E. Bowlt17. Oranges in Leningrad , by Kevin BartigList of ContributorsIndex
£35.10
Indiana University Press Ariane Bluebeard
Book SynopsisTrade Review"It is often authoritative and comprehensive; it is especially well informed on the origins of the libretto, Maeterlinck's philosophical and literary influences, and the collaborative processes between the playwright, the composer Paul Dukas, and the singer Georgette Leblanc. The tables of recordings, performances, and so on render this book an invaluable tool for researchers."—Laura Watson, author of Paul Dukas: Composer and Critic"This is as thorough an examination of Ariane et Barbe-bleue, in all its aspects, as one is likely to see. Generous appendixes with illustrations and historical documents round out the picture. An intriguing addition to the literature on music."—B. J. Murray, Miami UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Ariane et Barbe-bleue: A Dramatic and Musical Overview, by Matthew Gordon Brown and Thomas Emil Homerin2. The Genesis of Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, by Matthew Gordon Brown3. Performing Ariane et Barbe-Bleue: From Premier to Orchestral Suite, by Matthew Gordon Brown4. A Feminist Opera? Women's Rights and Women's Wrongs in Maurice Maeterlinck's and Paul Dukas' Ariane and Bluebeard, by Jean Elisabeth Pedersen5. Maurice Maeterlinck and the Mystical Ariane, by Thomas Emil Homerin6. Maeterlinck and Plato's Cave, by Nicholas Gresens7. Ariane et Barbe-Bleue and the Legacy of Richard Wagner, by Matthew Gordon Brown8. Singing Ariane: An Interview with Katherine Ciesinski, by Katherine Ciesinski and Matthew Gordon Brown9. Bluebeard, or Female Curiosity? Not the Same Old Story, by Andrea G. Reithmayr10. Reflections on Comic Book Opera: P. Craig Russell's Ariane and Bluebeard, by Thomas Emil Homerin11. An Adaptation of an Adaptation: TableTopOpera's Live Production of Ariane and Bluebeard, by Matthew Gordon BrownAppendicesAlbert Flament, "'Ariane' dans les ruines de St-Wandrille," Femina 163 (1 November, 1907), 484–85. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Henri Duvernois, "Les femmes de Barbe-Bleue," Femina 153 (1 June, 1907), 246–249. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Lucien Fugère, "La vie du théâtre," Musica 55 (April 1907), 53–55. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Paul Dukas, "Ariane et Barbe-Bleue," La Revue Musicale (numéro spécial) (May-June, 1936), 4–7. English translation by Timothy Scheie.Montrose J. Moses, "The Wife of Maurice Maeterlinck," Metropolitan Magazine 34 (March, 1912), 38–52.Georgette Leblanc-Maeterlinck, "The Later Heroines of Maurice Maeterlinck," Fortnightly Review 93 (January 1910), 48–56. English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.BibliographyContributorsIndex
£45.00
Indiana University Press Ariane Bluebeard From Fairy Tale to Comic Book
Book SynopsisTrade Review"It is often authoritative and comprehensive; it is especially well informed on the origins of the libretto, Maeterlinck's philosophical and literary influences, and the collaborative processes between the playwright, the composer Paul Dukas, and the singer Georgette Leblanc. The tables of recordings, performances, and so on render this book an invaluable tool for researchers."—Laura Watson, author of Paul Dukas: Composer and Critic"This is as thorough an examination of Ariane et Barbe-bleue, in all its aspects, as one is likely to see. Generous appendixes with illustrations and historical documents round out the picture. An intriguing addition to the literature on music."—B. J. Murray, Miami UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Ariane et Barbe-bleue: A Dramatic and Musical Overview, by Matthew Gordon Brown and Thomas Emil Homerin2. The Genesis of Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, by Matthew Gordon Brown3. Performing Ariane et Barbe-Bleue: From Premier to Orchestral Suite, by Matthew Gordon Brown4. A Feminist Opera? Women's Rights and Women's Wrongs in Maurice Maeterlinck's and Paul Dukas' Ariane and Bluebeard, by Jean Elisabeth Pedersen5. Maurice Maeterlinck and the Mystical Ariane, by Thomas Emil Homerin6. Maeterlinck and Plato's Cave, by Nicholas Gresens7. Ariane et Barbe-Bleue and the Legacy of Richard Wagner, by Matthew Gordon Brown8. Singing Ariane: An Interview with Katherine Ciesinski, by Katherine Ciesinski and Matthew Gordon Brown9. Bluebeard, or Female Curiosity? Not the Same Old Story, by Andrea G. Reithmayr10. Reflections on Comic Book Opera: P. Craig Russell's Ariane and Bluebeard, by Thomas Emil Homerin11. An Adaptation of an Adaptation: TableTopOpera's Live Production of Ariane and Bluebeard, by Matthew Gordon BrownAppendicesAlbert Flament, "'Ariane' dans les ruines de St-Wandrille," Femina 163 (1 November, 1907), 484–85. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Henri Duvernois, "Les femmes de Barbe-Bleue," Femina 153 (1 June, 1907), 246–249. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Lucien Fugère, "La vie du théâtre," Musica 55 (April 1907), 53–55. English translation by Sébastien Cornut.Paul Dukas, "Ariane et Barbe-Bleue," La Revue Musicale (numéro spécial) (May-June, 1936), 4–7. English translation by Timothy Scheie.Montrose J. Moses, "The Wife of Maurice Maeterlinck," Metropolitan Magazine 34 (March, 1912), 38–52.Georgette Leblanc-Maeterlinck, "The Later Heroines of Maurice Maeterlinck," Fortnightly Review 93 (January 1910), 48–56. English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.BibliographyContributorsIndex
£17.99
Indiana University Press Wagner and Cinema
Book SynopsisDiscusses Wagner's legacy in sound and on screenTrade Review[D]emands and deserves a commitment of time and space from a wide range of readers as they experience its transitions . . . and powerful enlightening moments. Vol. 64 2 Summer 2011 * Jrnl American Musicological Soc JAMS *[Wagner and Cinema] looks at the plethora of senses in which Wagner's music and different kinds of Wagnerian reception histories have informed cinematic production throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. ...Wagner and Cinema is a text that will no doubt be consulted for many years henceforward.Issue 24, 2012 -- Nathan Waddell * Scope *[T]he book . . . present[s] the reader with a strong and very varied attempt to discuss the relation between Wagner, opera and cinema and includes a vast array of densely detailed information covering large historical periods in many of its well-written essays.Issue 29 * Screening the Past *A useful resource for serious students of film, theater, and/or music, the book includes numerous photos, and helpful music notation enhances the text. . . . Recommended. * Choice *Wagner & Cinema provides a comprehensive discussion of its subject . . . [I]t offers an excellent introduction for scholars interested in Wagner's influence on film and offers a starting point for future studies. 34/2 (2011) * German Studies Review *The essays in this collection engage in a critical dialogue with existing studies—extending and renovating current theories related to the topic—and propose unexplored topics and new methodological perspectives.March 01, 2010 * Camero-Stylo *Table of ContentsForeword by Tony PalmerIntroduction: Why Wagner and Cinema? Tolkien Was Wrong \ Jeongwon JoePart 1. Wagner and the Silent Film 1. Wagnerian Motives: Narrative Integration and the Development of Silent Film Accompaniment, 1908–1913 \ James Buhler 2. Underscoring Drama—Picturing Music \ Peter Franklin 3. The Life and Works of Richard Wagner (1913): Becce, Froelich, and Messter \ Paul Fryer 4. Listening for Wagner in Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen \ Adeline MuellerPart 2. Wagnerian Resonance in Film Scoring 5. The Resonances of Wagnerian Opera and Nineteenth-Century Melodrama in the Film Scores of Max Steiner \ David Neumeyer 6. Wagner's Influence on Gender Roles in Early Hollywood Film \ Eva Rieger 7. The Penumbra of Wagner's Ombra in Two Science Fiction Films from 1951: The Thing from Another World and The Day the Earth Stood Still \ William H. RosarPart 3. Wagner in Hollywood 8. "Soll ich lauschen?": Love-Death in Humoresque \ Marcia J. Citron 9. Hollywood's German Fantasy: Ridley Scott's Gladiator \ Marc A. Weiner 10. Reading Wagner in Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944) \ Neil Lerner 11. Piercing Wagner: The Ring in Golden Earrings \ Scott D. PaulinPart 4. Wagner in German Cinema 12. Wagner as Leitmotif: The New German Cinema and Beyond \ Roger Hillman 13. The Power of Emotion: Wagner and Film \ Jeremy Tambling 14. Wagner in East Germany: Joachim Herz's Der fliegende Holländer (1964) \ Joy H. CalicoPart 5. Wagner beyond the Soundtrack 15. Nocturnal Wagner: The Cultural Survival of Tristan und Isolde in Hollywood \ Elisabeth Bronfen 16. Ludwig's Wagner and Visconti's Ludwig \ Giorgio Biancorosso 17. The Tristan Project: Time in Wagner and Viola \ Jeongwon Joe 18. "The Threshold of the Visible World": Wagner, Bill Viola, and Tristan \ Lawrence KramerPostlude: Looking for Richard: An Archival Search for Wagner \ Warren M. SherkEpilogue: Some Thoughts about Wagner and Cinema; Opera and Politics; Style and Reception \ Sander L. GilmanInterview with Bill Viola \ Jeongwon JoeFilmography \ Jeongwon Joe, Warren M. Sherk, and Scott D. PaulinList of ContributorsIndex
£21.59
Indiana University Press Carl Maria von Weber and the Search for a German
Book SynopsisStudy of Weber's operas 'Der Freischutz' and 'Euryanthe' within early 19th century music criticism, and context of German nationalism.Trade ReviewGerman national, political, social, and musical spirit grew aggressively in the late—18th and early, 19th centuries, contesting Italian domination of opera. Because the singspiel, with its folk origins, could not serve as equal competitor with either Italian opera buffa or opera seria, German composers searched for formulas that might yield a viable national opera. Weber's Der Freischütz (Freischutz) provided impetus. Euryanthe was a further step in the reconfiguration and transformation of German opera. Meyer details the nature of the conflict that led to new institutions, aesthetics, and opera genre after Weber's death and the compromises that eventually produced the German romantic opera. Thoroughly researched, copiously footnoted, and including an extensive bibliography, this volume is a logical companion to Michael Tusa's Euryanthe and Carl Maria von Weber's Dramaturgy of German Opera (CH, Feb'92). Summing Up: Recommended. Scholars and opera historians.July 2003 -- R. Miller * Oberlin College *Table of ContentsDedicationAcknowledgements1. Introduction: Inventing German Opera2. The Native and the Foreign: Models for the German Opera3. Der Freischütz and the Character of the Nation 4. Euryanthe: Reconfiguration and Transformation5. Epilogue: Institutions, Aesthetics and Genre after Weber's Death Appendix 1: Synopsis of Das unterbrochene Opferfest Appendix 2: Comparative Table: Versions of Das unterbrochene Opferfest Appendix 3: Synopsis of Méhul's Joseph Appendix 4: Comparative Table: Versions of the Joseph Finale Appendix 5: Synopsis of Euryanthe Bibliography Index
£29.45
Indiana University Press Mamontovs Private Opera The Search for Modernism
Book SynopsisOne man's impact on the performing arts in RussiaTrade ReviewThis is a valuable and long overdue work that enriches an ignored but greatly influential artistic enterprise drawn from the era's greatest artistic figures, and sponsored and set together in dynamic collaborations by the ingenuity and tastes of Savva Mamontov. * Sineris *Haldey has performed a crucial service to scholarship and to everyone interested in this fascinating period.V.70.3 July 2011 * The Russian Review *Haldey, a musicologist at the University of Maryland, provides a close-up of what, remarkably, [Mamontov] accomplished and how and why. . . . [S]he manages to evoke successfully a larger than life man and his era. August 22, 2010 * The Reporter-Times *With extensive notes and 40 halftone photographs, this is an important work for Russian and turn-of-the-century cultural studies. Highly recommended.March 2011 * Choice *This fine, rigorously researched book should please anyone interested in the development of the arts in Russia. Opera NewsMarch 1, 2011 * Opera News *Haldey gives an evocative and detailed portrait of the era, drawing on letters, memoirs, contemporary criticism and reviews, and synthesizing important secondary literature in a variety of related fields . . . [This] should be required reading for all historians of Russian theatre. * Slavonic and East European Review *Hadley's research provides an effective reclaiming of the important . . . role played by Savva Mamontov and the MPO in the history of modernist theater in Russia. It should attract the interest of musicologists, visual art and theater historians, as well as social and cultural historians interested in the development of artistic modernism in late imperial Russia. * H-Russia *Haldey's fresh account of Mamontov's vital role in the creation of the modern Russian theater is striking for its originality, the depth of its research and analysis, and the detail it provides. * Slavic and East European Journal *Haldey deserves great credit for re-creating this lost world of art for its own sake and restoring it to its proper place in the pages of Russian history. * Revolutionary Russia *[Haldey's] book will change our understanding of Russian opera in the 'Silver Age.' It is the necessary—and overdue—complement to Braun's 1999 study, whose focus is on the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. . . .67.4 June 2011 * Notes *Mamontov's Private Opera is a fascinating and detailed presentation—using existing primary source materials—of the power and influence that one man had on both Russian music history and international music history at the turn of the twentieth century. * Music Reference Services Quarterly *This is a bracing account of a time when faith in dramatic art was contagious—and worked wonders. * Slavic Review *Table of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on Transliteration and TranslationAbbreviationsIntroduction1. The Silver Age and the Legacy of the 1860s2. Serving the Beautiful3. Echoes of Abramtsevo4. Visual Impressions5. Opera as Drama6. From Meiningen to Meyerhold7. Politics, Repertory, and the Market8. Faces of the EnterpriseAppendix A. Brief Chronology of Savva Mamontov's Life and CareerAppendix B. Selected Premieres and Revivals at the Moscow Private OperaNotesWorks CitedIndex
£31.50
Indiana University Press Il Trittico Turandot and Puccinis Late Style
Book SynopsisMusic and meaning in Puccini's last worksTrade ReviewConversant in a wide range of disciplines, Davis has contributed an important addition to the field of Puccini studies and 19th-century Italian opera literature. . . . Recommended. * Choice *[T]o undertake analyses of four operas in one book is no easy task, but [Davis] accomplishes it adeptly. Despite potential contradictions in the identification of his proposed style characteristics, his analyses are insightful, challenging the reader to hear these operas in new ways. He has made tangible aspects of Puccini's music dramas that we may take for granted as intuitive, illuminating how dramatic moments move us and interact with the work as a whole. * Music Theory Online *[I] applaud Davis for his close readings of this much-loved but insufficiently studied repertoire, and for the pluralism of his methodology, which is in keeping with Puccini's seemingly conscious exploration of multiple styles, formal traditions, and harmonic dialects. . . The book deserves a wide readership for the important questions it answers, and for the additional questions it raises that call for further research.Dec 2012 * Nineteenth-Century Music Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on Scores, Librettos, and TranslationsIntroduction: Hearing Puccini1. Stylistic Plurality, Narrative, Levels of Discourse, and Voice2. The Romantic Style in Late Puccini3. Expressive Uses of Convention in Il tabarro4. Formal Multivalence in Suor Angelica5. Humor and Filmic Effects in the Structure of Gianni Schicchi6. Puccini's Solution: Integrating the Conventional and UnconventionalEpilogue: Late Style and PucciniNotesBibliographyIndex
£27.90
Profile World of the Castrati
Book SynopsisPatrick Barbier's entertaining and authoritative book is the first full study of the subject in the context of the baroque period. Covering the lives of more than sixty singers from the end of the sixteenth century to the nineteenth, he blends history and anecdote as he examines their social origins and backgrounds, their training and debuts, their brilliant careers their relationship with society and the Church, and their decline and death.The castrati became a legend that still fascinates us today. Thousands flocked to hear and see these singing hybrids - part man, part woman, part child - who portrayed virile heroes on the operatic stage, their soprano or contralto voices weirdly at variance with their clothes and bearing. The sole surviving scratchy recording tells us little of the extraordinary effect of those voices on their audiences - thrilling, unlike any sound produced by the normal human voice.Illustrated with photographs and engravings, the book ranges from the glories of p
£16.20
University of Washington Press Women Playing Men
Book SynopsisDocuments women's influence on popular culture in twentieth-century China by examining Yue opera. This title documents and analyzes the origins and development of the genre and its unique role in modern Chinese culture. It looks at Chinese women's struggle to control their lives, careers, and public images.Trade Review"Jin Jiang's groundbreaking book is by far the best study of women's Yue opera as a social and cultural history in any language. . . . fascinating and surprisingly accessible. . ." -- Liang Luo * China Review International *"This clearly written text will be useful to those interested in Chinese theatre, women and performance, and the history of modern China. . . . This book, rich in social and theatre history, puts this understudied genre center stage." -- Kathy Foley * Theatre History Studies *"A major contribution to Chinese theater, performance studies, and modern history. . . . It breaks new ground in existing scholarship on traditional Chinese opera . . . [and] draws needed attention to the intriguing question of women's culture and gender identity in cosmopolitan Shanghai during the Republican period." -- Xiaomei Chen * The Opera Quarterly *"Scholars and teachers who work in the fields of China's gender, cultural, and urban histories will commend its publication." -- Yuen Ting Lee * Canadian Journal of History, vol. XLVI *"The stories, people, plays, and films that are the legacy of Yue opera and which Jin Jiang so lovingly preserves in her book are a vital reminder of how deeply engrained our needs are for entertainment focusing on that universal theme: love." -- Andrew Field * American Historical Review *"Jin Jiang's study on the history of Yue opera is as thoughtful in its elucidation of social and political contexts as it is sympathetic in its intimate portraits of its protagonists, the actresses who created Yue opera…. the work provides an important addition to our understanding of the transformations of gender ideology and gendered praxis and performance in twentieth-century China. What is more, her history fully bridges-indeed, incorporates—the challenge that 1949 typically represents for historians of modern Chinese culture." * The Journal of Asian Studies *"The transformation of a rural, male dramatic form into an urban, female phenomenon lies at the heart of this stimulating study of 20th-century Shanghai culture. . . . Recommended." * Choice *"…women of Yue opera expressed modern urban feminine aspirations through the aesthetics and narratives of Yue opera. Such expressions represented the rise of feminine power in Shanghai and in Chinese society in general. This book should be welcomed by scholars in Chinese gender studies." * China Qaurterly *"This well-researched study examines a form of dialect opera that burst onto the scene in Shanghai in the 1920s, transformed itself under the aegis of its female stars in the 1930s and 1940s, eclipsed Bejing opera in the 1940s and maintained its predominance well into the 1980s. . . . This excellent study will be of interest to scholars and students of Chinese drama, urban popular culture, women's history, and gender studies. * Pacific Affairs *"Drawing on a wealth of written and oral sources the author effectively engages the subject from a cultural studies/feminist theory perspective to provide an outstanding example of how social and cultural dynamics can be examined through the lens of a performance tradition." * The Chinese Historical Review *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction | Opera, Gender, and the City 1. The Origins of Yue Opera 2. The Rise of Feminine Opera 3. Patrons and Patronage 4. Staging in the Public Arena 5. The Opera as History 6. A Feminine Aesthetics Conclusion Appendix | Interviews and Informants Notes Chinese Character Glossary References Index
£27.99
Yale University Press Opera and its Symbols
Book SynopsisDiscusses the workings of symbolism in opera and the importance of staging an opera in keeping with the composer's intentions. Donington's analysis includes scenes and characters from operas by Monteverdi, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Bizet, Puccini, Debussy, Strauss, Stravinsky, Berg and others.
£29.28
Yale University Press Litaliano con lopera
Book SynopsisThis publication seeks to help students learn Italian through opera. Designed to supplement intermediate level programmes, it can be used in courses emphasizing language, conversation, and/or culture. Six operas are examined, including "La Boheme", "Otello", "Tosca" and "La traviata".
£49.95
Yale University Press Cosima Wagner
Book SynopsisProvides a revealing picture of the extraordinary Cosima Wagner - illegitimate daughter of Franz Liszt, wife of the conductor Hans von Bulow, then mistress and subsequently wife of Richard Wagner. This biography explores the achievements of this remarkable and obsessive woman while illuminating a chapter of European cultural history.Trade Review"'Oliver Hilmes has written by far the best biography of her... His book is a model of scholarship and also compellingly readable... A major achievement.' (Michael Tanner, BBC Music Magazine) 'This biography of Wagner's wife offers a wonderfully clear-eyed look at the couple's relationship and her fanatical tending of his flame.' (The Sunday Times) 'Oliver Hilmes has produced a surprisingly amusing book.' (Philip Hensher, Daily Telegraph) 'He has written a detailed, fair-minded and fascinating account, not just of a pivotal figure in European musical history, but of an epoch and an ethos: nineteenth-century German cultural and spiritual nationalism.' (Robert Carver, The Tablet) 'This well-written book (translated brilliantly - as ever - by Stewart Spencer) offers a clear and scrupulous insight into how she created and stoked the peculiar mania that infected the Wagner cult.' (Della Couling, Classical Music)"
£39.07
Yale University Press Wagner in Performance
£28.19
Yale University Press Monteverdis Musical Theatre
£35.82
